We're back for part two, and today Lowest of Men is taking the wheel, ready to blast through five more events, including the week's second supermajor.

Today we're looking at:

• Adepticon (supermajor)
• Fantasia Fanatic (major)
• Iron Cage: Bedford Beatdown
• Courage And Honour
• Münsterland GT

If you're looking for any of the following events, go take a look at Wednesday's part 1, where Wings has to try and find nice things to say about Space Marines:

• The Manchester 40k Super-Major (supermajor)
• All is Dust GT (major)
• Grand Onslaught 5
• Imperialis Capilla GT
• Absolute Supremacy 40k Spring GT
• Deck Box Masters 40K

Adepticon Champs 2023

238-player, 8-round Supermajor in Schaumburg, IL US on March 23 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Secure Missing Artefacts

Nassim Fouchane - Astra Militarum: Born Soldiers Goodstuff with lots of Sentinels.

vs.

Arne Zerndt - Leagues of Votann: Greater Thurian League 2Fort.

Thoughts

Adepticon is, by all accounts, a pro-shooting environment, with a lighter terrain set up giving a slight helping hand to those that like to settle things at a distance. As such it isn't too surprising to find two ranged heavyweights facing off in the final round. On the Votann side we have the popular Greater Thurian Leage build, leaning heavy on bikes, with Uthar the Destined and TWO Forgemasters on standby to hand out 6s for the Magna Rail Cannon on the Land Fortresses, or nullify a nasty enemy wound. The GLT trait helps to get at least some of the Judgement token efficiencies onto enemy targets - for all the online whining about the judgement system, in practice it isn't so easy to slap auto-wounding potential everywhere you might need it, but having a 'count as one more' trait available, as well as the mission play of additional count-as on objectives really helps the Leagues to dance with a wider range of enemies and threats.

Double Hearthguard five mans are nice tech for keeping an opponent honest, as the threat of a teleporting squad of chonkodwarves ruining their plans goes beyond that first time deployment of the Warpestryk squad. There is also one rules misplay here- Ironkin Assistants are unable to take warlord traits, so the powerful buff of Guild Affiliate should have been stashed somewhere else. My understanding is that this was handled during the event.

On the other side of the table, Nassim continues his fine run of form with the Astra Militarum in a brief foray across the pond to determine the relative solidity of the American playing environment (he sent us a photo with his findings). Nassim's list has all the usual tricks, but goes very heavy on Armoured Sentinels. These things are no joke when amped up with full rerolls and stood near the Finial of Nemrodesh 1st, and can even do some defensive work in combat with their adorable little t-rex chainsaw arms. The Sentinels can hold the opponent at bay long enough for the barrage of mortars and other shooting to get to work, with amped up Kasrkin doing their thing. The mortal wounds from these in particular are a very hard sell for the Dwarves to handle given their complete lack of defences and cheap screening options, and it does feel like a well placed Kassy-Bomb experience has the potential to end this as a contest right out the gate.

Secure Missing Artefacts exacerbates the raw shoot-out feel of this match up by making it quite likely that both players are trying to hold an objective in the open. In the end it looks like the guard, and Nassim's trademark style of ranged gut-punching with a smile carried the day. Well done mate!

Result

Astra Militarum Victory - 65 - 25

Nassim Fouchane - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Credit: Nassim Fouchane

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

65 - 25 Victory against Arne Zerndt - Leagues of Votann.

Thoughts

As explored above, Nassim's Astra Militarum break America, Beatles style, with games as short and sweet as any storming debut album. It shoots hard, it can screen and hold off the enemy via orders and Sentinel heroics, and it ignores every defensive buff you spent your precious points to bring, like an idiot. Guard may have some predators emerging in the form of these end-times marines builds popping up, but I'm intrigued to see what answers Nas can cook up on his return home.

Arne Zerndt - Leagues of Votann - 2nd Place

Ûthar the Destined. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown

Archetype

GTL Goodstuff

Thoughts

As explored above, souped up Land Fortresses and Bikers with HQ support honed to maximise their killing and defensive potential. Leagues can shoot hard, and often struggle when an opponent can play around and outscore them, but Arne has succeeded in piloting them all the way to the final here, great work!

Thomas Ogden - Astra Militarum - 3rd Place

Leman Russ Executioner. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Thoughts

Ooo! Another guard list! This one has got the Finial, it's got some Kasrkin, it's got some Leman Russes, it's got the Horse Multiplier (nobody ever laughs when I call him this and it's sad), it's got some Mortars, etc etc. There are at least some Ratlings in here and I'm going to say that these are the real heroes and the powerhouse behind the high finish for this build. Scions for secondaries flexibility (RBD and Boots like these) is a nice touch, but in the main this is guard flexing their muscles in the usual way. Congratulations Thomas!

Nicholas Rose - Genestealer Cult - 4th Place

Hybrid Metamorphs. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Pauper Princes GSC

Thoughts

Nicholas brings a spin on the Pauper Prince's builds we've seen enjoying some moderate success in recent times, with my current favourite GSC tech piece, the Alchemist Supreme Biophagus, in tow. This guy handing out a 5+++ to a 10 squad of bikers helps them stick around and run interference that little bit longer... unless they hit up against the magic flag of no you don't! Broadcasting a 5++ around and slightly amping up the durability of the units feels like a sensible play in the current meta, and the +1 to hit in combat ensures they can do some work in melee too. Great work Nicholas!

The Best of the Rest

There were 6 more players on 4-1 or equivalent (this event had a top cut) records. They were:

• 5th - Ben Cherwien - Black Templars: A very angry go - wide Templars list with tonnes of Gladiators and Impulsors full of Assault Intercessors. Baller.
• 6th - Kevin Leonard - Nurgle Daemons: The best list ever. Two Great Unclean Ones, Rotigus, three Soul Grinders. Nurgle's number might be 7, but Kevin's is T9. Awesome.
• 7th - Chris Sulla - Necrons: A Mephrit build with tonnes of Lokhust Destroyers and the Silent King for rerolls. Very shooty, very appropriate.
• 8th - Oliver Smith - Iron Hands: Iron Hands Goodstuff with an outrageous number of Land Speeder Storms.
• 9th - Doug Henningsen - Chaos Knights: Herpetrax Armiger Spam.
• 10th - Jared Friedman - 'Minotaurs': Iron Hands successors. I've no idea why these are labelled Minotaurs and I'm probably happier not knowing.

Fantasia Fanatic XLIII 40K

103-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Västerbottens län SE on March 25 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

(Lowest of Men note: I wasn't entirely sure what BCP was up to with the placings here, with some players with losses ostensibly ranked higher than ones without. Looks like 20-0scoring was used, and I've gone extra deep to hit the undefeated players)

Jesper Unander-Scharin - Adeptus Custodes - 1st Place

Adeptus Custodes Venatari Custodians. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Emperor's Chosen MSU

Final Round Matchup

16 - 4 Victory against Daniel Bergström - Imperial Knights.

Thoughts

Jesper brings home the gold (hehe) with an MSU Custodes list in the mould of others we have seen doing well in recent times. Emperor's Chosen remain flexible, durable, and dangerous with their excellent suite of traits and the ability to switch into another host as the need demands. Flamer Witchseekers appear again here, and these offer nice screen clearance potential and a threat with which to keep less armoured opponents honest. It feels like Custodes players are choosing a side with the main options at the moment being huge slabs of Wardens, or more flexible multi-threat builds like this, and I'm definitely rooting for the latter. Great work!

Daniel Bergstrom - Imperial Knights - 2nd Place

Imperial Knight Paladin. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Mechanicus Armigers

Why it's Interesting in 9th

No Freeblade Lance here - just maximum durability and reliability from a Taranis Paladin leading a whole bunch of Armigers to war, with a cheeky squad of Voidsmen to sit on home objectives. Making it right to the final in a shooty metagame with Knights is no mean feat (and we're sure the durability paid off), so well done to Daniel!

Eetu Peltola - Necrons - 3rd Place

Skorpekh Destroyers. Credit: Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Nihilak Destroyers with Doomsday Arks

Thoughts

A nice take on Nihilak with some heavy ranged support from Doomsday Arks and a big yeetable squad of Destroyers. Skorpekh Destroyers remain a devastating combat option to have in the locker but this list is a little more flexible with some decent shooting options and some appropriate anti-teleporting tech in the Hexmark Destroyer. Well done on going undefeated Eetu!

Joel Larsson - Adeptus Custodes - 4th Place

Allarus Custodes by Crab-stuffed Mushrooms

The List

Archetype

Emperor's Chosen MSU

Why it's Interesting in 9th

Nothing too flashy, just a nice, all-rounder setup of Emperor's Chosen units, balancing shooting, mobility and defence. Came a bit unstuck when it ran into Daniel's knights in round four, but otherwise put up incredibly dominant 20-0 performances across the board, with the reliable BEL from the Allarus presumably a huge part of that. Great work from Joel.

Benjamin Hyvönen - Adeptus Custodes - 5th Place

Custodes Vertus Praetors. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Shadowkeepers MSU

Thoughts

More MSU Custodes wizardry here, this time in Shadowkeepers to debuff enemy combat potential. Impregnable Mind makes an appearance to mess with enemy secondaries, and there is a run out for the Stasis Oubliette, which unlocks some fight last potential. Combo with the Lockwarden and you have a brawler character ready made to slay his less prepared peers. Awesome work Benjamin!

Kalle Abrahamsson - Drukhari - 6th Place

The completed Drazhar. Credit: Dan "Swiftblade" Richardson

The List

Archetype

Drukhari Goodstuff

Thoughts

A late run out for the Drukhari Goodstuff builds of yesteryear sees Kalle go undefeated with this excellent transport centric list. Incubi for cutting edge, lots of Dark Lances and a Ravager for ranged troubleshooting, and Reavers and Hellions to punk lightly defended targets and ticket of Behind Enemy Lines as required. Drukhari have a lot more predators out there these days, and piloting this to a 4-1-0 is an impressive feat. Very well done.

The Best of the Rest

There were 10 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 7th - Andre Persson - World Eaters: Angron and all the goodstuff. Admirably Beserker heavy.
• 8th - Stefan Viterstedt - Ynnari: Ynnari with the Yncarne and some big slabs of Hellions.
• 9th - Max Persson - Adepta Sororitas: Bloody Rose with some Paragon Warsuits and supporting Helverins
• 10th - Bilbo Goransson - Genestealer Cult: Industrial Affinity Neophytes with psychic support.
• 11th - Jonathan Sleigh-Johnson - Iron Hands: Iron Hands Goodstuff.
• 12th - Daniel Tercha - World Eaters: Beserkers and Eightbound with several killy characters.
• 14th - Daniel Hesselberg - Tzeentch Daemons: Go-wide Flamers, Chariots and Screamers.
• 15th - Arvid Kaykhosravi - Necrons: A Nihilak list-formatting war crime.

Iron Cage: Bedford Beatdown

52-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Bedford, TX US on March 25 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Robert Moreland - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Scout Sentinel. Rockfish

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

87 - 79 Victory against Justin Moore - Cult Mechanicus.

Thoughts

A glimpse of the dark future. Astra Militarum have started an artillery arms race, and there are a number of other contenders coming into view to give them a game. One weapon that has as of yet been under-explored in this quest to interact as little as possible with the foe before the edition ends is the Earthshaker Cannon, a big beastly artillery piece that can also receive orders and throw down some high-ap, multi-damage shooting to supplement the mortars. It's good in the mirror and may mitigate other artillery armies a bit too. I'm fully anticipating us seeing a lot more of these in the immediate future, just as soon as they arrive from 'Forgeworld'. Well done on shelling your foes to death Robert!

Sweet Lew - Leagues of Votann - 2nd Place

The List

Archetype

Ymyr Goodstuff

Thoughts

A fairly archetypal Votann list, there are a couple of niche picks here in the Grimnyr and the Einhyr Champion. These models are both awesome and each offers something nifty to the overall plan (A melee killing machine for hard targets via the mortal wound threat of Exactor, and cp generation and psychic secondary potential respectively). Sagitaurs help some of the little lads get to the front in good time, and this is very much a build after my own heart. Very well done!

The Best of the Rest

There were 8 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 3rd - Clifton “Murica” Russell - Genestealer Cult: Rockgrinder and Truck Spam with Deep Supplies custom trait to amp up the threat. SO many demo charges here!
• 4th - Justin Moore - Cult Mechanicus: Lucius with an absolute truckload of foot infantry. This plays a little like the horde GSC builds, but can punch from even further away!
• 5th - Cam Hawkins - World Eaters: Kharn the Betrayer gets a run out and there's a Dreadclaw Droppod to add some early pressure to the early pressure so you can early pressure while you early pressure. Love it!
• 6th - Talon Rooney - Genestealer Cults: Industrial Affinity Biker and Neophyte Spam.
• 7th - Jonathan Nikiel - Dark Angels: Deathwing Terminator Spam.
• 8th - Justin Phillips - Leagues of Votann: Greater Thurian League with double Land Fortress and Uthar.
• 9th - Greg Harris - Custodes: Emissaries Imperatus with a Calladius backing up the usual suspects.
• 10th - Riley Wells - Iron Hands: Very firstborn heavy Iron Hands with a LOT of scouts and Tactical Marines alongside the Devastators.

Courage And Honour VIII

32-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Wales GB on March 25 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

Andrew Lewis - Astra Militarum - 1st Place

Kasrkin Kill Team. Credit: Jack Hunter

The List

Archetype

Born Soldiers Goodstuff

Final Round Matchup

97 - 66 Victory against Ben Creighton Griffiths - Iron Hands.

Thoughts

More Astra Militarum dominance! There are some Combat Engineer squads here for pop-up surprises and mission play, and the full three squads of Kasrkin. Going forwards using these effectively is going to require some careful play around the proliferating number of artillery threats in the game, but they remain a meta-defining unit. Sly Marbo makes an appearance here- I absolutely adore flex pick characters and he is a dream for booping into enemy lines to tick off scoring and threaten vulnerable characters or objectives. Well done on the top placing Andrew!

The Best of the Rest

There were 4 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Christopher Scriven - Adeptus Custodes: Emperor's Chosen MSU
• 3rd - Matt Strong - Farsight Enclaves: Farsight leading up multiple Hammerheads and Riptides and the usual Crisis brick.
• 4th - Ben Creighton Griffiths - Iron Hands: Mass Iron Hands Dreadnoughts with a smattering of utility pieces in support.
• 5th - Liam Keane - World Eaters: Disciples of the Red Angel with Skabrand and a Lord of Skulls in tow. GLORIOUS.

Münsterland GT 2

28-player, 5-round Grand Tournament in Horstmar, NRW DE on March 25 2023. All the lists for this event can be found in Best Coast Pairings.

This event used 20-0 scoring.

The Showdown

Matchup & Mission - Death and Zeal

Alexander Tepe - Dark Angels: Mixed Deathwing/Ravenwing.

vs.

Artur Güttler - T'au Empire: Unusual go-wide Farsight with lots of mid-tier hulls.

Thoughts

A very spicy showdown here pitching one of the new stars of the meta against the fading glory of a previous era. The Dark Angels, piloted by Alexander, come to the party with a lot of the usual tools. There are Land Speeders and Talonmasters for scoring Codex Warfare, and a big brick of Terminators to wade forwards and hold ground. The Ravenwing Apothecary adds resilience and resurrection options, making this list a lean, mean fighting machine with minimal tech pieces on display.

In the other corner, the Tau are geared up with an innovative list that eschews Crisis Teams and looks to spread the threats wide and play around the opponent. A suite of Piranhas add lots of mission utility and weight of shots, and triple Hammerheads can throw out heavy damage and mortal wounds via Submunitions as required. Two Ghostkeels anchor the lines and provide a shooting threat that is immune to all but close range counterfire. In this match up the positioning and exchanges between the Dark Angels Speeders and the Tau shooting is crucial - if the Tau can strip away these mission playing assets quickly enough the sheer durability of the Terminators may not be enough to carry the day, especially as even these will fall down to a concentrated burst of Tau fire. On Death and Zeal the Dark Angels would be expected to rack up an early lead, with the Tau hoping to come back strong after whittling them down. It looks like the Greater Good weren't quite able to manage that...but were able to take enough points from the game to win the event overall, as they went into it with a lead in the 20-0 system.

Result

T'au Empire Defeat - 7 - 13...But they won on points overall.

Artur Güttler - T'au Empire - 1st Place

XV95 Ghostkeel. Credit: Rockfish

The List

See showdown

Archetype

Genuine Innovation *Chef's Kiss*

Final Round Matchup

7 - 13 Victory against Alexander Tepe - Dark Angels.

Thoughts

Artur breaks new ground with the Tau, sprinkling a range of speedy, punchy units in and avoiding the points sink of a full crisis unit. It has reach, punch, and secondary scoring potential (Behind Enemy Lines looks extremely easy for this build). Farsight Enclaves ensure the units can all punch at range without much support, and Kroot can die on the line to buy time as required. This is a really cool list, I especially love seeing Ghostkeels get a run out. Great work!

The Best of the Rest

There were 5 more players on 4-1 records. They were:

• 2nd - Florian Schmidt - Iron Hands: Iron Hands with a lot of Infiltrators, supporting Eliminators, and a big slab of Assault Terminators.
• 3rd - René Rosenberg - Goffs: A Goff pressure horde with triple Kill Rig.
• 4th - Alexander Tepe - Dark Angels: The Dark Angels Goodstuff build from the showdown.
• 5th - Malte Hofs - Chaos Space Marines: Abaddon Black Legion with some Decimators and a fricking Noctilith Crown. Behave!
• 6th - Niklas Kreuzheck - Custodes: Emperor's Chosen MSU.

Wrap Up

That's it from me this week! Take a picture of this week's meta, it might well be the world that was. The key question ahead of us is whether what happened at Manchester in the UK is about to become the new normal, and that will depend a lot on the dataslate (which may change a lot of the field up anyway), and on how players adapt and respond to the options provided to them by Desolation Marines. Unless something drastic happens the artillery wars may have only just begun... good luck and god speed out there!

Lowest of Men, out.

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